Process for attaching coated metal sheets.



O. M. OTTE.

PROCESS FOR ATTACHING coma METAL SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 15. I916. 1,231 29U, Patented June 26, 1917.

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O. M. OTTE.

PROCESS FOR ATTACHING COATED METAL SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-15,1916

L28L29m Patented June 26, 1917.

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PROCESS FOR ATTACHING COATED METAL SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15. l9l6.

1]. ,23 1 w Patented June 26, 1917.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3- UTHO M. OT'IE, 0F JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK.

PROCESS FOR ATTACHING COATED METAL SHEETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2%, 19d 't.

Application filed September 15, 1916. Serial No. 120,282.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, O'rno M. Om, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Jamestown, in the county of Chautauqua and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for Attaching Coated Metal Sheets, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

The invention relates to processes for attaching plates or sheets of metal to one another and particularly by the use of molten metal, either soft or hard metals, as solder, brass, steel,or difierent alloys. It is exceedingly difficult to attach sheets or plates of metal to one another in a non-visual manner, that is, so that after attachment they can be finished or coated without showing the manner of attachment or any imperfections at the point or points of attachment.

This is also rendered more diflicult when one of the two sheets has been coated be fore attachment, as is often necessary, for whether covered with enamel, paint or other finish the coated sheet will not take the solder or molten metal in holding attachment as in a soldered, brazed or welded joint, yet it is often highly desirable on account of the reduction in the cost of production to coat or finish a sheet of metal before attaching it to another sheet; and it is absolutely necessary in order to prevent oxidation between two sheets or plates of metal to coat one of said sheets before attachment to one another. It is also necessary to hold a thin metallic sheet or plate near the edge so that it will not be bent up or easily detached from the other metallic sheet and at the same time to have the method of attachment non-visual. It will also be obvious that in order to have thin sheets of metal appear smooth and take a fine polish or finish they cannot be attached to one another by hammer riveting.

It is also apparent that a coated sheet cannot take solder without scraping or cleaning the points of attachment, neither is it possible to obtain a steel weld on a coated or enameled plate, since in order to weld the two pieces of metal they must be contacting, also enamel blisters at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and even German enamel melts at a temperature of 1100 degrees, while steel melts at a temperature of 2360 degrees, and a welding heat for steel must be above the steel melting temperature. It is well known that common soft solder for attaching tin and similar metals is fusible at a low temperature, and that it will not i ttach to a coated or finished metallic surace.

Accordingly, the object of the improvement is to provide a novel method whereby a bright clean uncoated sheet or plate of metal may be non-visually attached to an uncoated sheet of metal or to a finished or coated sheet or plate of metal without scraping or cleaning the second sheet of metal. To attain this object a single opening or a plurality of openings are provided in the finished or coated sheet or plate of metal either by drilling, punching or casting before or after the finishing or coating of the sheet or plate of metal. The uncoated sheet of metal is then placed or clamped against the coated and said series of openings are filled with molten steel, brass, solder or other metal or alloy, the bright or clean surfaces of the metal being treated with solution or powder for soldering the same as is common in the hard or soft soldering processes. There are thereby formed, as it were, a series of cast metal rivets, a head being formed on said rivets when desired so that said rivets firmly attach the two sheets or plates of metal toone another Without revealing the means or manner of attachment; and the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of the different elements as shown and described in this specification and the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of the non-visual side of the coated plate attached to a clean or uncoated plate showing a plurality of solder points or cast metal rivets. Fig. 2 is a sectional view at line WW in Fig. 1 showing different forms of solder points or cast rivets in attaching the uncoated sheet to the coated; and Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view showing other forms of attachment for the coated sheet to the uncoated wherein the coated sheet is drilled after'b eing coated thereby providing clean metalsoldering points around the inner wall of the drilled openings in said coated sheet as well as on the clean or uncoated sheet.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of one of the forms of attachment shown in Fig.

-3. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of three sheets'of metal with one of said sheets attached vertically between the other two, solder points or'cast rivets attaching to the clean cut edges 'of the vertical sheet through holes or. lengthwise openings in the horizontal sheets; and Fig. 6 is an elevation of crosswise sectional view of one of the solder points ,or rivets showing a-rounded or cast metal head for holding or attaching in the hole or openingin a coated sheet, the rivets having straight sides; and Fig. 9 is a similar view of the headed rivet, the opening having inwardly enlarging or dovetail-shaped sides to give a stronger hold upon the clean or uncoated sheet; and Fig. 10 is a similar view showing the hole in the coated plate with sides enlarging outwardly to give a strong hold on the coated plate without the cast head; and Fig. 11 is a similar view showing substantially the same form of opening as that shown in Fig. 9 without the cast solder head. Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a mold for filling the holes or openings in the sheet metal with molten metal and providing the cast head for the metal rivet; and Fig. 13 is a plan view of a portion of the underside of said mold showing the shape of the molds for casting the heads; and Fig. 14 is a top plan view of the mold showing the groove and the openings for the molten metal and the cutting plate or knife with operating lever for severing the metal at the top of the rivet, the hinged cutting plate being also shown in the withdrawn position in dotted outline, 15 is a sectional view at line Y-Y in Fig. 14

of a mold with the cutting knife and the groove therefor higher up, said mold being placed on the bright or clean sheet of metal shown in section; and'Fig. 16 is a lengthwise sectional view of a portion of said mold at line ZZ in Fig. 15, showing also the bright or uncoated sheet of metal in section beneath said mold for a modification of said process of attaching two sheets of metal; and Fig. 17 is a perspective view of the bright plate with the molded rivets attached thereto ready for insertion in the correspondingly punched holes in the coated sheet; and Figs. 18 and 19 show sectional views of two sheets of metal attached by the modified process. L 1

Like characters of reference refer to. corres onding parts in the several views.

he numeral 20 designates the coated plateor sheet of metal, and the numeral 21 the uncoated plate or sheet of metal which is to be attached to the coated sheet 20.

The numeral 22 designates the coating on the plate 20, which is usually applied by dipplng said plate 20 in the liquid enamel or other coating after the holes or openings 23 are made in the plate 20 either by means ofa suitable die or by drilling. The holes 23 may be made straight or inclined in either direction, as shown in the drawings, to accommodate the method of attachment to the different classes of work. Thus for certain thicknesses of sheet metal and certain. uses for the attached sheets of metal the straight form of openings 24 is best adapted. In classes of work where common soft solderis used the holes are preferably drilled in the plate 20 after said plate has bright metal sheet 21. When it is desired to draw the bright metal sheet,21 strongly and closely upon the coated sheet 20 the sides of the hole or opening are preferably made dovetail-shaped as shown at 25 in Fig. 2 and as the solder cools it draws and attaches the sheet 21 firmly against the sheet 20. A head 26 is cast on the rivet 27, which arrangement permits the plate 20 being drilled or punched and dipped in the coating 22 and then attached by means of the heated rivets as hereinafter described to the uncoated plate 21.

For certain classes of work in which it is desirable to draw the uncoated plate 21 very firmly against the coated plate 20 theholes 23 are preferably drilled after the coating 22 has been. placed on the late 20 thereby providing the periphery of the inner wall of the hole 23 in bri ht fresh cut metal of the plate 20 to whic the solder point or rivet 27 adheres as well as to the bright uncoatedplate 21 and as the solder cools it draws the plate 11 ver firmly and strongly against the plate 20. gated hardening point as that for the molten metal or solder on the uncoated plate has greater retaining capacityvthan a rivet of the same size, such is the tenacity of the hold of the solder upon the metal of the uncoated surfaces of the plates.

This same tenacious hold occurs in the bright clean drilled holes in the plate 20 uch a round or elonandis made use of also in attaching a plate neeaaeo taching the side of one plate to the fresh cut edge of another plate, as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the separate metal attaching points in the holes 24 adhering firmly to the edge of the plate to be attached. The holes may be elongated, as shown at 28, and when a steel weld is desired, hollow cooling forms 29 with running water therein are used each side of the vertical sheet and the joint to keep the metal plates from being warped by the high degree of heat. The openings 24 or 28 are preferably made slightly wider than the thickness of the sheet metal to insure a strong hold for the molten metal on the edge of the vertical sheet.

In order to form the head 26 and to run the solder rivets or attaching points or rivets 27, a mold 30 is preferably used having the groove 31 for the molten metal with a series of openings 32 therein corresponding to the holes 24 to be filled with solder. A knife or cutting bar 33 is provided in a groove 34' in the side of the mold 30 which groove 34' is usually just above the top of the molded rivet head 26, though it may be at the height of plate 20 to cut the rivets as shown in Figs. 10 and 11.

The knife or cutting bar 33 is attached to a bar 34 which is hinged at 35 to the block 30 and has the lever 36 hinged at the opposite end to bear against the side of the block 30 to withdraw the rivet cutting knife 33 from the groove 34. The cutting knife 33 is provided with holes 37 which register with the holes 32 in the block 30 and with the holes 24 in the plate 20 so that when the bar or knife head 34 is in the contacting normal position against the side of the block 30 the knife plate 33 being also in normal position within the groove 34, said holes 37 register perfectly with the holes 32 and 24 but as soon as the lever 36 is moved against the side of the block 30 the knife 33 is moved outward and the several metal rivets are broken just above the solder head 26 or rivet 27 thereby quickly and easily shaping and finishing the outer surface of the head 26 of the point or rivet 27.

It is apparent that the holes 23 may be filled with a solder dipper or any other convenient means thereby attaining my purpose without departing from my invention, though the mold with the cutting knife 33 is preferred.

It is obvious that by this process a coated plate 20 may be firmly attached to an uncoated plate 21 giving a smooth finish for the uncoated plate and that tin, zinc, aluminum and other sheets of uncoated metal may be attached to a coated metal which coating may be of enamel, paint or other material and that where the dovetail-shaped opening is used, as shown in Fig. 11, a large solder adhering surface is attained on the inclined sides in the hole in sheet 20 as well as a large solder surface on the polished plate 21, thereby giving the solder an exceptionally strong aerence. Care must be taken, however, so that this form of the soldering point does not draw or buckle down the plate 21 thereby forming a depression at the point of adherence as the solder cools so great is the drawing power of the solder. The modification of the process shown in Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 shows the mold 30 with groove 31 and holes 32 down therethrough, knife 33 with back 34 shutting into groove 34, with holes 37 in the knife 33, the only change being that the groove 34 and lmife 33 are placed higher in the block 30 so as to provide a longer distance between the plate 21 and the knife 33 to form and attach the flat rivets 39 to the sheet 21 in the long opening 38 or round rivets 40 to the sheet 21 in the round openings 41 cutting off said rivets 39 or 40 the spaced distance above the sheet 21 so that said rivets 39 or 40 may be inserted through similarly spaced openings 23 in the coated sheet 20 extending a slight distance beyond the opposite side of said coated sheet 20 as shown at 42 so that the extending ends 42 of the rivets 39 and 40 may be melted with a hot iron sufliciently to clench said extending ends 42 onto the outer surface of the coated sheet 20 forming heads 43 very much the same as the molded heads 26 and performing precisely the same oflice.

It is apparent that for certain forms of work the extending ends 42 might be headed by hammering instead of by melting, though melting by a hot iron is usually preferred. The sectional view of the mold 30 shown in Fig. 16 shows that said mold could be for shaping the rivets 38 as well as for the round form of rivets 40. This modified process performs substantially the same ofiice in substantially the same manner but the first described process wherein the plates are clamped together and the plate 20 performs the double oflice of a mold and one of the attaching plates is preferred since the molten metal almost invariably obtains some adhesion in the interstices in the openings in the metal plate whether punched or drilled or coated and insures an exact fit since the molten metal fills the entire opening and as it cools contracts and draws the two plates firmly together thereby making a much stronger attachment than where the rivets are first formed on the uncoated sheet 21 as shown in Fig. 17 and then inserted through the openings 23 in the sheet 20 to be attached and then headed with a hot iron.

I claim as new The hereindescribed process of attaching a finishing metal sheet having afinity for solder or the like and coated with enamel or in the holes to adhere to theuncoated walls 10' like finishing material repellent to solder or thereof and to the unco,atedsheet.

the like to an unooated metal sheet which In testimony whereof I have aflixed my clonsists in first enalmeling seiid firstd slileet, signature in the presence of two witnesses. 5 t en in orming ho es in sai coate s eet .after enameling thereof, thereby providing Q O OTTE' the holes with walls which are uncoated, Witnesses:

then in clamping the coated sheet to the 1111- H. A. SANDBERG,

coated sheet, and finally in placing a binder CHEsToN A. P121011. v 

